G3 returned - LCD viewing angle

[yowzah]

I am sad to say that I ended up returning my G3 due to what I see as a design flaw that I couldn't live with.

The viewing angle of the LCD is very biased toward the bottom of the camera (when the LCD is flat against the camera, i.e. not hinged out... in that mode it's biased toward the top of the camera), and I could not adequately see what I was shooting at. At first, I thought it was just a problem with my particular camera, so I brought it back expecting to simply exchange and get another G3. But, unfortunately, the one at the store exhibited the same problem, and yet a third at another store had the same problem.

Has anybody else noticed this? Is it just me? My natural viewing angle (I'm pretty tall) using the LCD is to hold the camera in front of me at chest, or even neck, height. At that height, I'd be looking at the LCD at about a 10 degree viewing angle from above. At that angle, the LCD very noticeably darkens and exhibits a sort of "film negative" image, as opposed to a nice bright image. Conversely, if I view the LCD from the bottom, the LCD looks great all the way down to almost 90 degrees. Flipping the LCD just flips the problem. I suppose I could use the camera with the LCD hinged out all the time, but that was just not natural for me, and it lengthens the time it takes to let off a quick shot.

Did New Hampshire just get a bad batch, or do all of the G3s have this problem? I really am disappointed, because I loved virtually everything else about the camera (except for the indoor autofocus, but I was willing to live with that).

Oh, well... the search for a new camera begins again.

 

[SDPaul]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

i am 6' 3" and just ordered a G3. :O

how tall are you?

Paul

 

[CHIA]

The problem is simple....you said that you are holding the camera in front of your chest. This has nothing to do with how tall you are, but the fact that you are not actually looking into the LCD from the correct/best angle. You could easily fold the LCD out to the side, and then tilt it up towards you, which would eliminate this issue....which is one of the real nice features of this camera, or simply crouch down a little. I persoannly find that I hold the camera more at eye level, as I would with any normal/non digital camera. That's too bad that it will not work for you.....I am wondering which model actually will work?

CHIA

I am sad to say that I ended up returning my G3 due to what I see
as a design flaw that I couldn't live with.

The viewing angle of the LCD is very biased toward the bottom of
the camera (when the LCD is flat against the camera, i.e. not
hinged out... in that mode it's biased toward the top of the
camera), and I could not adequately see what I was shooting at. At
first, I thought it was just a problem with my particular camera,
so I brought it back expecting to simply exchange and get another
G3. But, unfortunately, the one at the store exhibited the same
problem, and yet a third at another store had the same problem.

Has anybody else noticed this? Is it just me? My natural viewing
angle (I'm pretty tall) using the LCD is to hold the camera in
front of me at chest, or even neck, height. At that height, I'd be
looking at the LCD at about a 10 degree viewing angle from above.
At that angle, the LCD very noticeably darkens and exhibits a sort
of "film negative" image, as opposed to a nice bright image.
Conversely, if I view the LCD from the bottom, the LCD looks great
all the way down to almost 90 degrees. Flipping the LCD just flips
the problem. I suppose I could use the camera with the LCD hinged
out all the time, but that was just not natural for me, and it
lengthens the time it takes to let off a quick shot.

Did New Hampshire just get a bad batch, or do all of the G3s have
this problem? I really am disappointed, because I loved virtually
everything else about the camera (except for the indoor autofocus,
but I was willing to live with that).

Oh, well... the search for a new camera begins again.

 

[ShootIt]

I don't notice that the angle is "biased" in either direction. What I have noticed is that, yes, it has a very narrow vertical viewing angle. It's fine if you look at it head on, but any deviation from the perpendicular and the image starts looking very washed out. It doesn't bother me much because when I'm shooting, I manly only use the LCD to check settings and occasionally to frame a difficult shot. It does make it kind of hard for more than one person to view images in playback, though.

The viewing angle of the LCD is very biased toward the bottom of
the camera (when the LCD is flat against the camera, i.e. not
hinged out... in that mode it's biased toward the top of the
camera), and I could not adequately see what I was shooting at. At

 

[yowzah]

6' 3".

I'm guessing that most folks, regardless of height, would have a similar natural position as mine, but the problem might be a bit exacerbated for us taller folks since the world is just a little bit lower.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

i am 6' 3" and just ordered a G3. :O

how tall are you?

Paul

 

[yowzah]

I wondered the same thing, and took a good look at a few other cameras at my local Best Buy. They all had LCDs that were absolutely fine for me... except for the G3. Its display is seriously darkened at my preferred viewing angle.

CHIA

I am sad to say that I ended up returning my G3 due to what I see
as a design flaw that I couldn't live with.

The viewing angle of the LCD is very biased toward the bottom of
the camera (when the LCD is flat against the camera, i.e. not
hinged out... in that mode it's biased toward the top of the
camera), and I could not adequately see what I was shooting at. At
first, I thought it was just a problem with my particular camera,
so I brought it back expecting to simply exchange and get another
G3. But, unfortunately, the one at the store exhibited the same
problem, and yet a third at another store had the same problem.

Has anybody else noticed this? Is it just me? My natural viewing
angle (I'm pretty tall) using the LCD is to hold the camera in
front of me at chest, or even neck, height. At that height, I'd be
looking at the LCD at about a 10 degree viewing angle from above.
At that angle, the LCD very noticeably darkens and exhibits a sort
of "film negative" image, as opposed to a nice bright image.
Conversely, if I view the LCD from the bottom, the LCD looks great
all the way down to almost 90 degrees. Flipping the LCD just flips
the problem. I suppose I could use the camera with the LCD hinged
out all the time, but that was just not natural for me, and it
lengthens the time it takes to let off a quick shot.

Did New Hampshire just get a bad batch, or do all of the G3s have
this problem? I really am disappointed, because I loved virtually
everything else about the camera (except for the indoor autofocus,
but I was willing to live with that).

Oh, well... the search for a new camera begins again.

 

[yowzah]

The ones I tried were definitely biased in one direction. Try looking at the LCD at an angle where you first notice degradation, then flip out the LCD and look at it again at the same angle. What I notice is one of these configurations is much better than the other.

The viewing angle of the LCD is very biased toward the bottom of
the camera (when the LCD is flat against the camera, i.e. not
hinged out... in that mode it's biased toward the top of the
camera), and I could not adequately see what I was shooting at. At

 

[ShootIt]

I can confirm that the viewing angle is considerably narrower on the G3 than it was on my old Sony Cybershot.

I wondered the same thing, and took a good look at a few other
cameras at my local Best Buy. They all had LCDs that were
absolutely fine for me... except for the G3. Its display is
seriously darkened at my preferred viewing angle.

 

[ShootIt]

I tried it, and the only difference I notice is that in one direction, the image gets brighter as I move away from center, and in the other direction it gets darker. This is a side-effect of the way LCDs polarize the light. Again, the main problem is that the vertical viewing angle is so narrow that the image starts to degrade as soon as I move away from the vertical perpendicular. The horizontal viewing angle, on the other hand, is much larger.

The ones I tried were definitely biased in one direction. Try
looking at the LCD at an angle where you first notice degradation,
then flip out the LCD and look at it again at the same angle. What
I notice is one of these configurations is much better than the
other.

 

[Olga Johnson]

Early on I realized that it was useless for me to keep the LCD against the camera as unless it was straight ahead I couldn't see the LCD. Now I can see exactly what you are saying.

I always swing the LCD out so it's not a problem for me. But I can see why something like that would be a pain in the neck.

You might want to look at the Olympus 5050 which will angle up rather than swing out.

Good Luck!

Olga

 

[yowzah]

Yes, I concur with that. When the image got brighter, I didn't find it to be a problem, but it getting darker really inhibited my ability to see what I was doing.

The ones I tried were definitely biased in one direction. Try
looking at the LCD at an angle where you first notice degradation,
then flip out the LCD and look at it again at the same angle. What
I notice is one of these configurations is much better than the
other.

 

[David Metzener]

You might want to look at the Olympus 5050 which will angle up
rather than swing out.

Or there is a camera that is coming out fairly soon that uses the new OLED technology which is supposed to give a huge viewing angle.

I can't remember the name of the camera, but it was in a news posting here at DPReview.

 

[Phredd]

Did New Hampshire just get a bad batch, or do all of the G3s have
this problem? I really am disappointed, because I loved virtually
everything else about the camera (except for the indoor autofocus,
but I was willing to live with that).

I live in NH, but I ordered mine from NJ and had the same problem. Maybe it's something in our air. I used it for the first time today and was very disappointed. I've never had that problem with other cameras, most of them Canons. I was also very disappointed that it is impossible to zoom while taking a video clip. Argghh! I know how frustrating the search for the perfect camera is. Maybe now to my third choice, the Nikon 5700.

Fred

 

[CHIA]

I beleive the OLED camera was a Kodak model if memory serves me correct? I do not think it was a very feature model unfortunately. I just remeber thinking, "wow, what a cool screen", and then "oh...it's not that great of a camera"....too bad

CHIA

You might want to look at the Olympus 5050 which will angle up
rather than swing out.

Or there is a camera that is coming out fairly soon that uses the
new OLED technology which is supposed to give a huge viewing angle.

I can't remember the name of the camera, but it was in a news
posting here at DPReview.

 

[Tanglefoot1947]

Did New Hampshire just get a bad batch, or do all of the G3s have
this problem? I really am disappointed, because I loved virtually
everything else about the camera (except for the indoor autofocus,
but I was willing to live with that).

I live in NH, but I ordered mine from NJ and had the same problem.
Maybe it's something in our air. I used it for the first time
today and was very disappointed. I've never had that problem with
other cameras, most of them Canons. I was also very disappointed
that it is impossible to zoom while taking a video clip. Argghh!
I know how frustrating the search for the perfect camera is. Maybe
now to my third choice, the Nikon 5700.

Fred

--Your third choice would be a big mistake. I sold mine awhile back and bought the Sony 717 and then had to have the G-3 and to me both the 717 and the G-3 are better than the 5700. Read their threads and see all the complaints.

Tanglefoot1947 717, B-300, TCON 14B, WCON 08B, Canon i950, Canon G-3

 

[Ulysses]

I do not find the actual angles to fall much differently.

However, the Cybershots do have a sort of antireflective plastic overlaying the actual LCD itself (slightly bluish). This may be a factor here.

I wondered the same thing, and took a good look at a few other
cameras at my local Best Buy. They all had LCDs that were
absolutely fine for me... except for the G3. Its display is
seriously darkened at my preferred viewing angle.

--

Ulysses